This application requests support for a FASEB Summer Conference entitled Gastrointestinal Tract XIV: Stem Cells, Adaptation, Inflammation and Cancer (Drs. S. Colgan, L. Samuelson, and G. Wu co-chairs). The 5 day conference will be the 14th in a series of biennial meetings that over the last 26 years that has provided an intense and intimate venue for presentation, discussion, and exchange of ideas among scientists at the forefront of research in fields related to gastrointestinal health and disease. It also provides a venue for young scientists and post-doctoral fellows to meet, live, and work together with established investigators in the field. The topic of the 2011 program is on the genesis of the diverse cell types in the intestinal mucosa that define the epithelial barrier, how they relate to the prokaryotic microbiome of the intestinal lumen, and how they relate to each other structurally and functionally in both health and disease with a focus on inflammation and neoplasia. The conference will be held from August 14-119, 2011 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The Steamboat Conference Center is a well- established site for FASEB conferences and is fully equipped and well suited to support this meeting. Thirty-seven speakers and session chairs are confirmed. Two poster sessions are planned and an afternoon will be devoted to a Career Development Workshop for young investigators led by senior officials from the NIH. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The FASEB Summer Conferences on the Gastrointestinal Tract is one of the premier venues to discuss interdisciplinary approaches to understand GI epithelial and mucosal biology and the clinical implications and applications of such understanding. The meeting will span the entire range of investigation in gastroenterology from molecules to intact organisms providing a clinical context for basic research observations. As a result of this conference, in is anticipated that participants will develop new ideas and research collaborations that will enhance research focused on important diseases relevant to public health such as inflammatory bowel disease and gastrointestinal cancer.